


arguing is the name of the game, but you all lost the point

by easybakedoodles (Madrugada98)



Series: a tale of too many wardens because i want everyone to be happy and heres how [7]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: In this au zevran attacks while they're at redcliffe before arl eamon wakes up, and since there are so many wardens some of them split up to do different stuff, then they try to figure out what to do with him without Fergus who is actually in charge here, they are just barely functioning and have approx six braincells among themselves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:47:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26288254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madrugada98/pseuds/easybakedoodles
Summary: "and stephan is too jelly bellied to kill Zev like Sten suggests But, Ghrena, Leli, Tamlen and Han'rel get back from Denerim first with Daolin Tabris in tow because Tamlen AND Han'rel were both like, we can’t just do nothing, he'll get taken away for killing the Arl's son! so they "conscript" him and hightail it back to Redcliffe where they find the rest of the crew trying to figure out what to do with Zev. So both crews start arguing about Zev and Daolin." - my notes on this AU
Series: a tale of too many wardens because i want everyone to be happy and heres how [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/820596





	arguing is the name of the game, but you all lost the point

“We could always kill him,” Sten said frankly, sounding annoyed by the fact that they hadn’t already done that. “He is weakened and unaware, better than what he deserves,”

“No, Sten, for the last time we are not killing him,” Stephan said, keeping his voice stern to hide how uneasy he felt with the whole conversation. The assassin had been after Alistair, so really he supposed Alistair had the final call on whether or not to let him live. However the Prince seemed to be of the same opinion as Stephan, they weren’t going to kill him, but neither of them were quite sure what to do with him beyond tying him up and locking him in a room.

Suddenly Alistair jumped out of his chair from across the room. “They’re back! The group from Denerim is back!” The two humans looked at each other in excitement, perhaps there was finally some news about the state of Ferelden’s politics. Something they both had been kept from in this dire time. They both almost rushed out of the room together before they realized that they weren’t sure if they should leave Sten alone with the would-be assassin still locked in the next room. Stephan unsubtly grabbed the key, as if the lock would actually stop the giant, and the two men headed for the courtyard. Sten just remained in place, staring impassively at the door to the room where they left the would-be assassin.

They caught up to the group in the main hall, already being received by Bann Teagan. The Bann had been extremely grateful to the Wardens for helping to clear Redcliffe of the undead, and was currently letting them stay in the castle as they searched for some sort of cure. If they had any leads on something to cure his brother, any leads at all, Bann Teagan would want to hear them. Unfortunately, as Alistair and Stephan arrived, it was to a very disappointed Teagan. Wordlessly, they looked to Tamlen to explain.

“Nothing but dead ends and a lying assistant. We couldn’t outright confront him considering we were trying to stay low and a slight lack of proof. We did find the name of a place Genitivi might have gone to, Haven, but it's all the way in the Frostbacks,” Tamlen said, shrugging. Alistair nodded in understanding, and heard Bann Teagan mention something about seeing to arrangements for dinner that night, and planned to go with him. However, Alistair paused when he saw that the group had grown by one in number. He admitted to himself that there were quite a few wardens in their group, and that he doesn’t quite know everyone yet, but he certainly doesn’t remember the elf now standing next to Mahariel.

“Who’s he?” Alistair asked, instantly cautious considering not even hours prior he had an assassin at his throat. Tamlen and Han’rel looked at each other, confused for a moment and then both made noises of understanding.

“This is Daolin Tabris, our newest conscript!” Han’rel said, walking over to him and throwing an arm around his shoulder. The elf named Daolin clearly wasn’t excited by the gesture, barely even welcoming of it, but tolerated it as he bristled under the Prince’s stare. Alistair was sure that Daolin can tell that there are things being unsaid, and that his status as a “conscript” is still under review. Especially, since Alistair knows, that those who recruited him are barely beyond the newly recruited status themselves.

Han’rel took his arm back and came closer to speak to Alistair and Stephan more directly. “I may not have a full and clear idea of how your cities are run, but they were going to kill him for exacting justice!” he exclaimed, his tattooed face pulled into a large scowl, worrying the two humans greatly.

“What Han’rel means is that the son of the Arl was a despicable piece of shit, who deserved what he got, but the human authorities didn’t seem to see it that way,” Tamlen further explained, causing the two human’s eyes to widen further. Daolin, at this point, had started to pull away from the group unnoticed as Stephan and Alistair’s attention was solely focused on Tamlen now at his words.

“What happened?” Stephan managed to grit out through his clenched jaw. They had sent that group to Denerim based on the fact that they were all sneaky, or knew how to not attract the wrong sort of attention. Clearly, they were going to have to reassess that statement after this.

“Well, Daolin was about to get married, and Tamlen and I, being random bystanders, got invited to the celebration! However, the ceremony got interrupted by the Arl’s son and his friends who were a very nasty sort. They knocked out Daolin and then kidnapped the bride and all the other women with her!” Han’rel began to explain. Alistair could barely keep up with the story and it had just started.

“So you went to the guards and told them what happened and they took care of the Arl’s son?” Stephan asked carefully, praying to Andraste that the two would have done the sensible thing for once.

“No,” Tamlen said, crushing all of Stephan’s hopes, “We waited for Daolin to wake up, and offered to go with him to save the women of course. One of his clan helped us get into the estate where we then found where they had locked up the women,” He continued, oblivious to Stephan and Alistair’s growing distress.

“And then you went to the city guard and told them what happened and what you found and they took care of the Arl’s son?” Stephan asked, his tone growing a bit higher in pitch.

“Of course not, we slaughtered them all and took the women back home to their families! Daolin didn’t end up getting married after all, considering we hadn’t been back for all of an hour before the guard finally showed up asking questions and demanding to arrest someone. So, that was when we conscripted him! After that we really didn’t want to hang around, especially because Genitivi’s assistant was useless, and headed back here.” Han’rel finished, all the while extremely proud of himself. Stephan’s face was at least two shades lighter, and Alistair’s jaw fully dropped. The two stunned humans couldn’t even begin to take apart how many missteps the elves made and they just ended up looking at each other, lost and unsure where to even start. 

Leliana and Ghrena walked over from where they had left their horses with the stable boys and were holding back laughter from seeing the men’s faces. The “conscript” had stepped behind the newcomers and was distancing himself from the group. Leliana patted Stephan on the shoulder and tried to comfort him.

“Sadly, Ghrena and I were attending Chantry services on what we thought would be a very quiet day, and weren’t around for this. Considering what they had to work with they did very well. There was no actual proof to tie any of them to the death, just that people knew that the Arl’s son had been by the alienage earlier in the day and that was why the guards assumed it was an elf,” she explained, defending the two Dalish. Alistair shook himself out of his stupor and finally came back to himself.

“The Grey Wardens are enemies of the crown! Declared by Loghain himself, how did you get the guards to just accept that you were conscripting him and let you leave? By all rights they should have tried to slay you where you stood!” Alistair sputtered.

“By all rights?” Han’rel asked, his tone light but the look in his eyes had suddenly darkened.

“No, you’re right, they would have had no right to do that, I’m sorry for saying that Han’rel. I just mean that they should be under orders to not have let you out, and I don’t understand why they did,” Alistair clarified.

“That would probably be because of the bribe the Keeper handed them,” Tamlen explained, Han’rel nodding beside him.

“You bribed a city guard?!” Stephan grit out, almost distraught at the news of the easy corruption in Denerim.

“To be fair, the guards in Orzammar probably would have done the same in this sort of a situation,” Ghrena said, thinking back to how much trouble she would have gotten in if not for Bhelen’s well timed bribes. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the stable boys walking past the group, but didn’t notice Tabris fading in and sneaking away from the Wardens and the two noblemen.

“That doesn’t make it any better! I can’t believe we were going to ask you all about what to do with the Crow,” Alistair said, rubbing his forehead in frustration.

“A crow? How’d it fly in anyway? There are quite a few doors here. Wouldn’t it make sense to just lead it back outside?” Han’rel asked, not understanding.

“No, he means an assassin, specifically one from Antiva, very specialized,” Stephan explained, already used to certain things needing to be explained.

“An assassin! Why didn’t you start with that! That’s way more interesting than what we did in Denerim. I’d assume you’d just do whatever it is you do with dead people up here. I mean, there’s no returning to the Stone on the surface like this,” Ghrena said, feeling slightly jealous that they got to deal with an assassin while they just talked to a slimy assistant.

“He’s not dead, we just knocked him out and tied him up,” Stephan clarified.

“What?!” Ghrena said, sounding somewhat excited by the prospect of being able to fight the assassin herself.

“Wait, where did Daolin go?” Tamlen said, finally speaking after noticing that their group had gotten smaller. They could only look around and at each other in confusion before finally realizing that they had lost track of the new “conscript”.

“What a professional and capable group we are, hmm?” Stephan said, rolling his eyes at the now, once again, chattering group.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I really hoped you enjoyed this, and that you'll think about reading some of the other parts of this series where all my wardens live and are stupidly happy lol. Feel free to talk to me @drvgongay on tumblr!


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